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AR: I honestly don’t know but I have been around from the start, then again I am always A. Round.

WP: You could be a comedian Andy!

WP: What responsibilities do you have at WP?

AR: I am a lead kayaking instructor and head of the kayak school and arafting trip leader. I also teach raft guide school and assist WRT. Ispecailize in teaching advanced kayaking. I also help run or run WPinternational trips to places like Costa Rica and Peru. Its a hard lifebut someone has to do it, I guess.

WP: What have you been up to all winter?

AR: Tons of stuff, you really want to know? I have been working at WPhelping with various logistical issues to do with international tripsand guide school as well as fixing bootie’s!

I have also been working at Mount Hood as a road warrior rescueingcrazy skiers who wipe out in ther cars, or lose there keys and stufflike that, yep, I get to break into there cars when they lose therekeys or lock themselve’s out.

I am really good at it and am thinking of a new career as a car thief,or actor in ‘Gone in 60 seconds’ I mean those guys can’t act in thatmovie anyway, so I reckon I am in, especially with the accent.

I’ve been snowboarding, mountian biking and kayaking but not in thatorder. I have also been trying to write a book about how to kayak butthats a long work in progess,and a secret so don’t tell anyone. Oh andworking on my house a bit, but not much.

WP: When will you be starting the 2009 season?

AR: When ever they will have me. I am leaving for Costa Rica very soonto go kayaking and then help Todd run the WP rafting trip. After thatGuide school starts, with me and Hootie, Guide schools going to kickass this year, as I have finally figured out how to keep my raft in astraight line.

WP: What Wet Planet trip are you looking forward to the most in 2009?

AR: Thats easy– The Cotahuasi, the deepest canyon on earth in Peru,October 2009. Its one of the best multi days trips in the world period,makes the grand canyon look boring, yawn.

Then we head to the Apurimac the true source of the Amazon, as part ofthe same trip. If you don’t think thats cool then I can’t help ya.

WP: Looking back on last season, what is the most memorable moment you had?

AR: Oh man there are so many, we had some great Wind river trips, Idumped my whole crew and surfed alone in my raft in rams horn rapidmanaged to dig her out of there after nearly flipping a few times, thatwas pretty funny.

Maybe the best was the Kayak trip we did on the Lower Salmon in Idaho,teaching beginner/intermidiate and in one students case advancedkayaking on a 5 day overnighter on this beautiful river with raftsupport and great food. Thats the friggin life right there.

WP: Tell us Andy, what is one thing we don’t know about you yet?

AR: Yeah yeah I am not really Australian.

So I am actually an alien who has been sent down here from a differentplanet, there are a bunch of us here as spy’s on the human race but wehave different missions, mine is to figure out why people sit in thosebright jelly bean shaped boats and hurl themselves down white waterrivers that could kill them.

My race doesn’t really know what fun is and we don’t have adrenalglands, so its hard to explain my findings to them and they make mestay until I come up with a different answer.

This probably explains a lot to those that know me, right? Or should I say think they know me?

When I first landed on earth I miss- calculated my landing zone andaccidently hit Australia, [kind of like the way I run water falls] myinternal computer picked up the Australian accent and now as hard as atry I can’t learn to speak American and every time I say the word Dudea beep gos off in my head like when your computer refuses to do whatyou ask of it and beeps at you, so you try again and it beeps again,you try again and low and behold it beeps again and so on, until youthrow it in the river.

Because throwing something in the river is, as we all know, the fastestway to get rid of something and therefore begs the question that whenyou go rafting and kayaking — are you in fact trying to get rid ofyourselves?

Bet you didn’t know that?

WP: Wow Andy, we thought we knew you . . . guess not! A man of many “alien” layers! Haha!

Thanks, Andy for taking some time and sharing “the life of Andy” with us!

If you haven’t experienced a rafting trip or kayaking experience withAndy yet, you’re missing out. He’s a wealth of knowledge andinformation, which Wet Planet deems lucky to have! Say “hi” to Andywhen you see him, he’s the one with the distinct ‘alien’ accent.

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